NEVOLENT 
UDALISM. 


phlet  No.  2. 


THE  NEXT  STEP: 


A. 


Benevolent  Feudalism. 


BY  W.  J.  GHENT. 


Published  by 
THE  COLLECTIVIST  SOCIETY, 
NEW  YORK. 

May,  1902, 


I 


 f 


PREFACE. 


It  is  generally  conceded  that  the 
regime  of  free  competition  is  over.  In- 
dustry is  being  systematized  and  unified 
on  a  constantly  enlarging  scale.  The 
future  form  of  production  becomes  there- 
fore a  matter  of  absorbing  interest  tO'  all 
thinking  citizens. 

The  writer  of  our  first  pamphlet,  "  So- 
cialism and  Collectivism,"  holds  that  the 
next  form  will  be  national  co-operation. 
The  present  pamphlet  presents  a  startling 
alternative. 

It  lies  with  the  popular  mandate  to  de- 
termine which  of  two  powerful  tenden- 
cies is  to  be  supported — the  one  making 
for  Industrial  Democracy  and  the  other 
making  for  Industrial  Oligarchy. 

Some  comment  on  Mr.  Ghent's  article 
will  be  found  in  an  addendum  (pages 
31-32).     The  Collect: VIST  Society. 


Previous  issue  in  this  series: 

No.  I.  An  Exposition  of  Socialism  and 
Collectivism."  By  a  Churchman.  51 
pages. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/detajls/nextstepbenevoleOOghen 


THE  NEXT  STEP: 


A  Benevolent  Feudalism/^ 

BY  W.  J.  GHENT. 
npHE  next  distinct  stage  in  the  socio- 


economic evolution  of  America 


may  be  something  entirely  differ- 
ent from  any  of  the  forms  usually  pre- 
dicted. Anarchist  prophecies  are,  of 
course,  futile ;  and  the  Tolstoyan  Utopia 
of  a  return  to  primitive  production,  with 
its  prodigal  waste  of  effort  and  conse- 
quent impoverishment  of  the  race,  allures 
but  few  minds.  The  Kropotkinian 
dream  of  a  communistic  union  of  shop 
industry  and  agriculture  is  of  a  like  type ; 
and  well-nigh  as  barren  are  the  Neo-Jef- 
fersonian  visions  of  a  general  revival  of 
small-farm  and  small-shop  production 
and  the  dominance  of  a  middle-class 
democracy.  The  orthodox  economists, 
with  their  notions  of  a  slightly  modified 
Individualism,  wherein  each  unit  secures 
the  just  reward  of  his  capacity  and  serv- 
ice, are  but  worshiping  an  image  which 

*Reprinted,  hy  courtesy  of  the  editors,  from  The  Inde- 
pendent^ of  April  3,  1902.  \The  Independent^  a  weekly 
magazine  :  New  York,  130  Fulton  St.] 


4 


they  have  created  out  of  their  books,  and 
which  has  no  real  counterpart  in  life ;  and 
finally,  the  Marxists,  who  predict  the 
establishment  of  a  co-operative  common- 
wealth, are,  to  say  the  least,  too  sanguine 
in  foreshortening  the  time  of  its  triumph. 
Whatever  the  more  distant  future  may 
bring  to  pass,  there  is  but  little  evidence 
to  prove  that  collectivism  will  be  the  next 
status  of  society.  Rather,  that  coming 
status,  of  which  the  contributing  forces 
are  now  energetically  at  work  and  of 
which  the  first  phases  are  already  plainly 
observable,  will  be  something  in  the  na- 
ture of  a  Benevolent  Feudalism. 

That  the  concentration  of  capital  and 
the  increase  of  individual  holdings  of 
wealth  will  continue  is  almost  unani- 
mously conceded.  Forty  years  ago  Marx 
laid  down  the  formula  of  capitalist  ac- 
cumulation which  has  ever  since  been  a 
fixed  article  of  creed  with  the  orthodox 
Socialists.  "  One  capitalist  always  kills 
many  "  is  its  central  maxim.  And  only 
recently  Prof.  John  B.  Clark,  doubtless 
our  most  distinguished  representative  of 
the  orthodox  economists,  declared,  in  the 
pages  of  The  Independent,  that 

the  world  of  the  near  future  .  .  .  will 
present  a  condition  of  vast  and  ever-growing 
inequality.  .  .  .  The  rich  will  continually 
grow  richer,  and  the  multi-millionaires  will  ap- 
proach the  billion-dollar  standard." 


5 


It  is  a  view  that  needs  no  particular  but- 
tressing of  authority,  for  it  is  held  by 
most  of  those  who  seriously  scan  the  out- 
look. 

There  are,  it  is  not  to  be  disputed,  cer- 
tain tendencies  and  data  which  apparent- 
ly conflict  with  this  view.  There  is  a 
marked  persistence,  and  in  some  cases  a 
growth,  of  small-unit  farming  and  of 
small-shop  production  and  distribution. 
This  tendency  is  strongly  insisted  upon 
by  Prince  Kropotkin  and  by  the  German 
Socialist  Bernstein,  and  is  conceded, 
tho  cautiously,  by  a  number  of  other 
radicals,  among  them  the  Belgian  So- 
cialist Vandervelde.  That  it  is  a  real 
tendency  seems  unquestioned  on  the  face 
of  the  figures  from  Germany,  France, 
England  and  Belgium ;  and  it  is  not  un- 
likely that  further  confirmation  will  be 
found  in  the  detailed  reports  of  the  last 
United  States  census.  Furthermore,  the 
great  commercial  combinations  are  not 
necessarily  a  proof  of  individual  increase 
of  wealth.  Often,  perhaps  generally, 
they  result  in  this  individual  increase; 
but  the  two  things  are  not  inevitably  re- 
lated. These  combinations  are  generally, 
as  William  Graham  pointed  out  nearly 
twelve  years  ago,  a  massing  together  of 
separate  portions  of  capital,  small,  great 
and  moderate — a  union  of  capitals  for 
a  common  purpose  while  still  Separately 


6 


owned.  Lipton's  great  company,  for  in- 
stance, has  over  62,000  shareholders ;  and 
many  of  America's  most  powerful  com* 
binations  are  built  up  out  of  a  multitude 
of  small  and  moderate  holdings. 

But  tho  these  facts  and  tendencies  K 
admitted,  they  do  not  really  affect  tlx 
foregoing  generalization.  The  drift  to- 
ward small-unit  production  and  distri- 
bution in  certain  lines  argues  no  growth 
of  economic  independence.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  attended  by  a  constant  pres- 
sure and  constraint.  The  more  the  great 
combinations  increase  their  power,  the 
greater  is  the  subordination  of  the  small 
concerns.  They  may,  for  one  reason  or 
another,  find  it  possible,  and  even  fairly 
profitable,  to  continue;  but  they  will  be 
more  and  more  confined  to  particular  ac- 
tivities, to  particular  territories,  and  in 
time  to  particular  methods,  all  dictated 
and  enforced  by  the  pressure  of  the 
larger  concerns.  The  petty  tradesmen 
and  producers  are  thus  an  economically 
dependent  class  ;  and  their  dependence  in- 
creases with  the  years.  In  a  like  posi- 
tion, also,  are  the  owners  of  small  and 
moderate  holdings  in  the  trusts.  The 
larger  holdings — often  the  single  largest 
holding — determines  the  rules  of  the 
game;  the  smaller  ones  are  either  ac- 
quiescent, or  if  recalcitrant,  are  power- 
less to  enforce  their  will.    Especially  is 


7 


this  true  in  America,  where  the  head  of  a 
corporation  is  often  an  absolute  ruler, 
who  determines  not  only  the  policy  of  the 
enterprise,  but  the  personnel  of  the  board 
of  directors. 

The  tendencies  thus  make,  on  the  one 
hand,  toward  the  centralization  of  vast 
power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men — the 
morganization  of  industry,  as  it  were— 
and  on  the  other,  toward  a  vast  increase 
in  the  number  of  those  who  compose  the 
economically  dependent  classes.  The  lat- 
ter number  is  already  stupendous.  The 
laborers  and  mechanics  were  long  ago 
brought  under  the  yoke  through  their 
divorcement  from  the  land  and  the  appli- 
cation of  steam  to  factory  operation. 
They  are  economically  unfree  except  in 
so  far  as  their  organizations  make  pos- 
sible a  collective  bargaining  for  wages 
and  hours.  The  growth  of  commerce 
raised  up  an  enormous  class  of  clerks  and 
helpers,  perhaps  the  most  dependent  class 
in  the  community.  The  growth  and  par- 
tial diffusion  of  wealth  in  America  has 
in  fifty  years  largely  altered  the  char- 
acter of  domestic  service  and  increased 
the  number  of  servants  many  fold.  Rail- 
road pools  and  farm-implement  trusts 
have  drawn  a  tightening  cordon  about 
the  farmers.  The  professions,  too,  have 
felt  the  change.  Behind  many  of  our 
important  newspapers  are  private  com- 


8 


mercial  interests  which  dictate  their  gen- 
eral policy,  if  not,  as  is  frequently  the 
case,  their  particular  attitude  upon  every 
public  question;  while  the  race  for  en- 
dowments made  by  the  greater  number 
of  the  churches  and  by  all  colleges  ex- 
cept a  few  State-supported  ones,  compels 
a  cautious  regard  on  the  part  of  synod 
and  faculty  for  the  wishes,  the  views  and 
prejudices  of  men  of  great  wealth.  To 
this  growing  deference  of  preacher, 
teacher  and  editor  is  added  that  of  two 
yet  more  important  classes — the  makers 
and  the  interpreters  of  law.  The  record  of 
legislation  and  judicial  interpretation  re- 
garding slavery  previous  to  the  Civil 
War  has  been  paralleled  in  recent  years 
by  the  record  of  legislatures  and  courts 
in  matters  relating  to  the  lives  and  health 
of  manual  workers,  especially  in  such 
cases  as  employers'  liability  and  factory 
inspection.  Thus,  with  a  great  addition 
to  the  number  of  subordinate  classes, 
with  a  tremendous  increase  of  their  in- 
dividual components,  and  with  a  corre- 
sponding growth  of  power  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  score  magnates,  there  is  needed 
little  further  to  make  up  a  socio-economic 
status  that  contains  all  the  essentials  of 
a  renascent  feudalism. 

It  is,  at  least  in  its  beginning,  less  a 
personal  than  a  class  feudalism.  History 
may  repeat  itself,  as  the  adage  runs ;  but 


9 


not  by  identical  forms  and  events.  The 
great  spirals  of  evolutionary  progress 
carry  us  for  a  time  back  to  the  general 
direction  of  older  journeyings,  but  not  to 
the  well-worn  pathways  themselves.  The 
old  feudalism  exacted  faithful  service, 
industrial  and  martial,  from  the  under- 
ling; protection  and  justice  from  the 
overlord.  It  is  not  likely  that  personal 
fidelity,  as  once  known,  can  ever  be  re- 
stored: the  long  period  of  dislodgment 
from  the  land,  the  diffusion  of  learn- 
ing, the  exercise  of  the  franchise,  and 
the  training  in  individual  effort  have  left 
a  seemingly  unbridgeable  chasm  between 
the  past  and  the  present  forms.  But 
tho  personal  fidelity,  in  the  old  sense,  is 
improbable,  group  fidelity,  founded  upon 
the  conscious  dependence  of  a  class,  is  al- 
ready observable,  and  it  grows  apace. 
Out  of  the  sense  of  class  dependence 
arises  the  extreme  deference  which  we 
yield,  the  rapt  homage  which  we  pay — 
not  as  individuals,  but  as  units  of  a  class 
— to  the  men  of  wealth.  We  do  not 
know  them  personally,  and  we  have  no 
sense  of  personal  attachment.  But  in 
most  things  we  grant  them  priority.  We 
send  them  or  their  legates  to  the  Senate 
to  make  our  laws;  we  permit  them  to 
name  our  administrators  and  our  judi- 
ciary; we  listen  with  eager  attention  to 
their  utterances  and  we  abide  by  their 


10 


judgment.  Not  always,  indeed;  for  some 
of  us  grumble  at  times  and  ask  angrily 
where  it  will  all  end.  We  talk  threaten- 
ingly of  instituting  referendums  to  curb 
excessive  power ;  of  levying  income  taxes, 
or  of  compelling  the  Government  to  ac- 
quire the  railroads  and  the  telegraphs. 
We  subscribe  to  newspapers  and  other 
publications  which  criticise  the  acts  of 
the  great  corporations,  and  we  hail  as  a 
new  Gracchus  the  ardent  reformer  who 
occasionally  comes  forth  for  a  season  to 
do  battle  for  the  popular  cause.  But  this 
revolt  is,  for  the  most  part,  sentimental ; 
it  is  a  mental  attitude  but  rarely  trans- 
mutable  into  terms  of  action.  It  is,^  more- 
over, sporadic  and  flickering;  it  dies  out 
after  a  time,  and  we  revert  to  our  usual 
moods,  concerning  ourselves  with  our 
particular  interests  and  letting  the  rest 
of  the  world  wag  as  it  will. 

The  new  feudalism  is  thus  character- 
ized by  a  class  dependence  rather  than  by 
a  personal  dependence.  But  it  diflfers  in 
still  other  respects  from  the  old.  It  is 
qualified  and  restricted,  and  by  agencies 
hardly  operative  in  medieval  times. ^  De- 
mocracy tends  to  restrain  it,  and  ethics  to 
moralize  it.  Tho  it  has  its  birth  and  nur- 
ture out  of  the  rough  and  unsocialized 
barbarians  of  wealth,"  in  Mr.  Henry  D. 
Lloyd's  phrase,  its  youth  and  maturity 
promise  a  modification  of  character. 
More  and  more  it  tends  to  become  a  be- 


II 


nevolent  feudalism.  On  the  ethical  side 
it  is  qualified  by  a  growing  and  diffusive 
sense  of  responsibility  and  of  kinship. 
The  principle  of  the  trusteeship  of  great 
wealth  "  having  found  lodgment,  like  a 
seed,  in  the  erstwhile  barren  soil  of  mam- 
monism,  has  become  a  flourishing 
growth.  The  enormous  benefactions 
for  social  purposes,  which  have  been 
common  of  late  years,  and  which  in  1901 
reached  a  total  of  $107,000,000,  could 
come  only  from  men  and  women  who 
have  been  taught  to  feel  an  ethical  duty 
to  society.  It  is  a  duty,  true  enough, 
which  is  but  dimly  seen  and  imperfectly 
fulfilled.  The  greater  part  of  these 
benefactions  is  directed  to  purposes 
which  have  but  a  slight  or  indirect  bear- 
ing upon  the  relief  of  social  distress,  the 
restraint  of  injustice,  or  the  mitigation 
of  remediable  hardships.  The  giving  is 
even  often  economically  false,  and  if  car- 
ried to  an  extreme  would  prove  disas- 
trous to  the  community;  for  in  many 
cases  it  is  a  transmutation  of  wealth 
from  a  status  of  active  capital,  wherein 
it  makes  possible  a  greater  diffusion  of 
comfort,  to  a  status  of  comparative 
sterility.  But,  tho  often  mistaken  as  is 
the  conception  and  futile  the  fulfilment 
of  this  duty,  the  fact  that  it  is  appre- 
hended at  all  is  one  of  far-reaching  im- 
portance. 

The  limitation  which  democracy  puts 


12 


Upon  the  new  feudalism  is  also  impor- 
tant.    For  democracy  will  endure,  in 
spite  of  the  new  order.      Like  death/' 
said  Disraeli,     it  gives  back  nothing." 
Something  of  its  substance  it  gives  back, 
it  must  be  confessed;  for  it  permits  the 
most  serious   encroachments  upon  its 
rights;  but  of  its  outer  forms  it  yields 
nothing,  and  thus  it  retains  the  poten- 
tiality of  exerting  its  will  in  whatever 
direction  it  may  see  fit.    And  this  fact, 
tho  now  but  feebly  recognized  by  the 
feudal  barons,  will  be  better  understood 
by  them  as  time  runs  on,  and  they  will 
bear  in  mind  the  limit  of  popular  pa- 
tience.   It  is  an  elastic  limit,  of  a  truth ; 
for  the  mass  of  mankind,  as  both  Ham- 
let and  Thomas  Jefferson  observed,  are 
more  ready  to  endure  known  ills  than  to 
fly  to  others  that  they  know  not.    It  is 
a  limit  which,  to  be  heeded,  needs  only 
to  be  carefully  studied.    Macaulay's  fa- 
mous dictum,  that  the  privileged  classes, 
when  their  rule  is  threatened,  always 
bring  about  their  own  ruin  by  making 
further  exactions,  is  likely,  in  this  case, 
to  prove  untrue.    A  wiser  forethought 
begins  to  prevail  among  the  autocrats  of 
to-day — a  forethought  destined  to^  grow 
and  expand  and  to  prove  of  inestimable 
value  when  bequeathed  to  their  succes- 
sors.    Our  nobility  will  thus  temper 
their  exactions  to  an  endurable  limit; 
and  they  will  distribute  benefits  to  a  de- 


13 


gree  that  makes  a  tolerant,  if  not  a  sat- 
isfied people.  They  may  even  make  a 
working  principle  of  Bentham's  maxim, 
and  after,  of  course,  appropriating  the 
first  and  choicest  fruits  of  industry  to 
themselves,  may  seek  to  promote  the 
"  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  num- 
ber." For  therein  will  lie  their  greater 
security. 

Of  the  particular  forms  which  this 
new  feudalism  will  take  there  ^  are  al- 
ready numerous  indications  which  fur- 
nish grounds  for  more  or  less  confident 
prediction.  All  societies  evolve  natur- 
ally out  of  their  predecessors.  In  so- 
ciology, as  in  biology,  there  is  no  cell 
without  a  parent  cell.  The  society  of 
each  generation  develops  a  multitude  of 
spontaneous  and  acquired  variations, 
and  out  of  these,  by  a  blending  process 
of  natural  and  conscious  selection,  the 
succeeding  society  is  evolved.  The  new 
feudalism  is  but  an  orderly  outgrowth  of 
past  and  present  tendencies  and  condi- 
tions. 

Unlike  the  old  feudalism  it  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  country.  Qualified  in  cer- 
tain respects  tho  it  be,  it  has  yet  a  far 
wider  province  and  scope  of  action.  The 
great  manorial  estates  now  being  created 
along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  along 
the  shores  of  Long  Island  Sound  and 
Lake  Michigan,  are  but  its  pleasure 
places — its  Sans  Soucis,  its  Bagatelles. 


14 


For  from  bemg  the  foundation  of  its 
revenues,  as  were  the  estates  of  the  old 
feudalism,  these  are  the  prodigally  ex- 
pensive playthings  of  the  new.  The  oil 
wells,  the  mines,  the  grain  fields,  the  for- 
ests and  the  great  thoroughfares  of  the 
land  are  its  ultimate  sources  of  revenue ; 
but  its  strongholds  are  in  the  cities.  It 
is  in  these  centers  of  activity,  with  their 
warehouses,  where  the  harvests  are 
hoarded;  their  workshops,  where  the 
metals  and  woods  are  fashioned  into  ar- 
ticles of  use;  their  great  distributing 
houses;  their  exchanges;  their  enor- 
mously valuable  franchises  to  be  had  for 
the  asking  or  the  seizing,  and  their  pres- 
sure of  population,  which  forces  an  hour- 
ly increase  in  the  exorbitant  value  of 
land,  that  the  new  feudalism  finds  the 
field  best  adapted  for  its  main  opera- 
tions. 

Bondage  to  the  land  was  the  basis  of 
villeinage  in  the  old  regime;  bondage  to 
the  job  will  be  the  basis  of  villeinage  in 
the  new.  The  wage-system  will  endure, 
for  it  is  an  incomparably  simpler  means 
of  determining  the  baron's  volume  of 
profits  than  were  the  boon-works,"  the 
^  week- works  ''  and  the  corvees  of  old. 
But  with  increasing  concentradon  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  fiercer  competi- 
tion for  employment  on  the  other,  the 
secured  job  will  become  the  laborer's 
fortress,  which  he  will  hardly  dare  to 


15 


evacuate.  The  hope  of  bettering  his 
condition  by  surrendering  one  place  in 
the  expectation  of  getting  another  will 
be  qualified  by  a  restraining  prudence. 
He  will  no  longer  trust  his  individual 
strength,  but  will  protest  against  ill  con- 
ditions, or,  in  the  last  resort,  strike,  only 
in  company  with  a  formidable  host  of 
his  fellows.  And  even  the  collective  as- 
sertion of  his  demands  will  be  restrained 
more  and  more  as  he  considers  recur- 
ring failures  of  his  efforts  such  as  that 
of  the  recent  steel  strike.  Moreover, 
concentration  gives  opportunity  for  an 
almost  indefinite  extension  of  the  black- 
list: a  person  of  offensive  activity  may 
be  denied  work  in  every  feudal  shop  and 
on  every  feudal  farm  from  one  end  of 
the  country  to  the  other.  He  will  be  a 
hardy  and  reckless  industrial  villein  in- 
deed who  will  dare  incur  the  enmity  of 
the  Duke  of  the  Oil  Trust  when  he 
knows  that  his  actions  will  be  promptly 
communicated  to  the  banded  autocracy 
of  dukes,  earls  and  marquises  of  the 
steel,  coal,  iron,  window  glass,  lumber 
and  traffic  industries. 

Of  the  three  under  classes  of  the  old 
feudalism — sub-tenants,  cotters  and  vil- 
leins— the  first  two  are  already  on  the 
ground,  and  the  last  is  in  process  of  res- 
toration. But  the  vast  complexity  of 
modern  society  specializes  functions, 
and  for  the  new  feudalism  still  other 


i6 


classes  are  required.  It  is  a  difficult 
task  properly  to  differentiate  these  class- 
es. They  shade  off  almost  impercepti- 
bly into  one  another;  and  the  dynamic 
processes  of  modern  industry  often  hurl, 
in  one  mighty  convulsion,  great  bodies 
of  individuals  from  a  higher  to  a  lower 
class,  blurring  or  obscuring  the  lines  of 
demarcation.  Nevertheless,  to  take  a 
figure  from  geology,  these  convulsions 
become  less  and  less  frequent  as  the  sub- 
stratum of  industrial  processes  becomes 
more  fixed  and  regular;  the  classes  be- 
come more  stable  and  shov^  more  dis- 
tinct differences,  and  they  will  tend,  un- 
der the  new  regime,  to  the  formal  insti- 
tution of  graded  caste.  At  the  bottom 
are  the  wastrels,  at  the  top  the  barons; 
and  the  gradation,  when  the  new  regime 
shall  have  become  fully  developed, 
whole  and  perfect  in  its  parts,  will  be 
about  as  follows: 

I.  The  barons,  graded  on  the  basis  of 
possessions. 

II.  The  courtiers  and  court-agents. 

III.  The  workers  in  pure  and  applied 
science,  artists  and  physicians.  The 
new  feudalism,  like  most  autocracies, 
will  foster  not  only  the  arts,  but  also  cer- 
tain kinds  of  learning — particularly  the 
kinds  which  are  unlikely  to  disturb  the 
minds  of  the  multitude.  A  future 
Marsh  or  Cope  or  Le  Conte  will  be  lib- 
erally patronized  and  left  free  to  dis- 


17 


cover  what  he  will ;  and  so,  too,  an  Edi- 
son or  a  Marconi.  Only  they  must  not 
meddle  with  anything  relating  to  social 
science.  For  obvious  reasons, ^  also, 
physicians  will  occupy  a  position  of 
honor  and  comparative  freedom  under 
the  new  regime, 

IV.  The  entrepreneurs,  the  managers 
of  the  great  industries,  transformed  into 
a  salaried  class. 

V.  The  foremen  and  superintendents. 
This  class  has  heretofore  been  recruited 
largely  from  the  skilled  workers,  but  with 
the  growth  of  technical  education  in 
schools  and  colleges  and  the  development 
of  fixed  caste,  it  is  likely  to  become  en- 
tirely differentiated. 

VI.  The  villeins  of  the  cities  and 
towns,  more  or  less  regularly  employed, 
who  do  skilled  work  and  are  partially 
protected  by  organization. 

VII.  The  villeins  of  the  cities  and 
towns  who  do  unskilled  work  and  are 
unprotected  by  organization.  They  will 
comprise  the  laborers,  domestics  and 
clerks. 

VIII.  The  villeins  of  the  manorial  es- 
tates, of  the  great  farms,  the  mines  and 
the  forests. 

IX.  The  small-unit  farmers  (land  own- 
ing), the  petty  tradesmen  and  manufac- 
turers. 

X.  The  sub-tenants  on  the  manorial  es- 


i8 


tates  and  great  farms  (corresponding  to 
the  class  of  free  tenants''  in  the  old 
feudalism). 

XL  The  cotters,  living  in  isolated 
places  and  on  the  margin  of  cultivation. 

XIL  The  tramps,  the  occasionally  em- 
ployed, the  unemployed — the  wastrels  of 
city  and  country. 

This,  then,  is  the  table  of  socio-indus- 
trial  rank  leading  down  from  the  feuda- 
tory barons.  It  is  a  classification  open,  of 
course,  to  amendment.  The  minor  share- 
holders, it  may  be  suggested,  are  not  pro- 
vided for;  and  certain  other  omissions 
might  be  named.  But  it  is  not  possible  to 
anticipate  every  detail;  and,  as  for  the 
small  shareholders,  who  now  occupy  a 
v/ide  range,  from  comparative  poverty  to 
comparative  affluence,  it  seems  likely  that 
the  complete  development  of  the  new 
regime  will  practically  eliminate  them. 
Other  critics,  furthermore,  will  object  to 
the  basis  of  gradation.  The  basis  em- 
ployed is  not  relative  wealth,  a  test  which 
nine  out  of  ten  persons  would  unhesitat- 
ingly apply  in  social  classification;  it  is 
not  comparative  earning  capacity,  eco- 
nomic freedom,  nor  intellectual  ability. 
Rather,  it  is  the  relative  degree  of  com- 
fort—material, moral  and  intellectual— 
which  each  class  contributes  to  the  nobil- 
ity. The  wastrels  contribute  least,  and 
they  are  the  lowest.  The  foremen,  super- 


19 


intendents  and  entrepreneurs  contribute 
most  of  the  purely  material  comfort,  and 
their  place  is  correspondingly  high.  But 
higher  yet  is  the  rank  of  the  courtiers  and 
court  agents,  the  legates  and  nuncios.  This 
class  will  include  the  editors  of  respect- 
able and  safe  newspapers,  the  pas- 
tors of  "conservative''  and  wealthy  " 
churches,  the  professors  and'  teachers  in 
endowed  colleges  and  schools,  lawyers 
generally,  and  most  judges  and  politi- 
cians. During  the  transition  period 
there  will  be  a  gradual  elimination  of  the 
more  unserviceable  of  these  persons,  with 
the  result  that  in  the  end  this  class  will  be 
largely  transformed.  The  individual  se- 
curity of  place  and  livelihood  of  its  mem- 
bers will  then  depend  on  the  harmony  of 
their  utterances  and  acts  with  the  wishes 
of  the  great  nobles ;  and  so  long  as  they 
rightly  fulfil  their  functions  their  recom- 
pense will  be  generous.  They  will  be  at 
once  the  assuagers  of  popular  suspicion 
and  discontent  and  the  providers  of 
moral  and  intellectual  anodynes  for  the 
barons.  Such  of  them,  however,  as  have 
not  the  tact  or  fidelity  to  do  or  say  what 
is  expected  of  them  will  be  promptly 
forced  into  class  XI  or  XII,  or,  in  ex- 
treme cases,  banished  from  all  classes,  to 
become  the  wretched  pariahs  of  society. 

Through  all  the  various  activities  of 
these  populous  classes  (except  the  last) 
our  Benevolent  Feudalism  will  carry  on 


20 


the  nation's  work.  Its  operations  will 
begin  with  the  land,  whence  it  extracts 
the  raw  material  of  commerce.  It  is  just 
at  this  stage  of  its  workings  that  it  will 
differ  most  from  the  customary  forms  of 
the  old.  The  cotters  will  be  pushed  further 
back  into  isolation,  and  the  sub-tenants 
will  be  confined  to  the  grubbing  away  at 
their  ill-recompensed  labors.  It  is  with 
the  eighth  class,  the  villeins  of  farm 
and  wood  and  mine,  that  we  have  here  to 
deal.  The  ancient  ceremony  of  hom- 
age," the  swearing  of  personal  fidelity  to 
the  lord,  is  transformed  into  that  of  the 
beseeching  of  the  foreman  for  work.  The 
wage  system,  with  its  mechanical  simplic- 
ity, continuing  in  force,  there  is  an  ab- 
sence of  the  old  exactions  of  special  work 
from  the  employed  villein.  A  mere  alter- 
ing of  the  wage  scale  appropriates  to  the 
great  noble  whatever  share  of  the  product 
he  feels  he  may  safely  demand  for  him- 
self. Thus  week-work,''  the  three  or 
four  days'  toil  in  each  week  which  the  vil- 
lein had  to  give  unrecompensed  to  the 
lord,  and  "  boon-work,"  the  several  days 
of  extra  toil  three  or  four  times  a  year, 
will  never  be  revived.  Even  the  company 
store,  the  modern  form  of  feudal  exac- 
tion, will  in  time  be  given  up,  for  at  best 
it  is  but  a  clumsy  and  offensive  make- 
shift, and  defter  and  less  irritating  means 
are  at  hand  for  reaching  the  same  result. 


21 


There  will  hardly  be  a  restoration  of  re- 
lief," the  payment  of  a  year's  dues  on  in- 
heriting an  allotment  of  land,  or  of 
heriot,"  the  payment  of  a  valuable  gift 
from  the  possessions  of  a  deceased  rela- 
tive. Indeed,  these  tithes  may  not  be 
worth  the  bother  of  collecting;  for  the 
villein's  inheritance  will  probably  be  but 
moderate,  as  befits  his  state  and  the  place 
which  God  and  the  nobility  have  ordained 
for  him. 

The  raw  materials  gathered,  the  scene 
of  operations  shifts  from  the  country  to 
the  cities  and  great  towns.  But  many  of 
the  latter  will  lose,  during  the  transition 
period,  a  considerable  part  of  their 
greatness,  from  the  shutting  up  of  need- 
less factories  and  the  concentration  of 
production  in  the  larger  workshops. 
There  will  thus  be  large  displacements 
of  labor,  and  for  a  time  a  wide  extension 
of  suffering.  Popular  discontent  will  nat- 
urally follow,  and  it  will  be  fomented,  to 
some  extent,  by  agitation ;  but  the  agita- 
tion will  be  guarded  in  expression  and  ac- 
tion, and  it  will  be  relatively  barren  of  re- 
sult. The  possible  danger  therefrom  will 
have  been  provided  against,  and  a  host  of 
economists,  preachers  and  editors  will  be 
ready  to  show  indisputably  that  the  evo- 
lution taking  place  is  for  the  best  interests 
of  all ;  that  it  follows  a  "  natural  and  in- 
evitable law ; "  that  those  who  have  been 


22 


thrown  out  of  work  have  only  their  own 
incompetency  to  blame ;  that  all  who  real- 
ly want  work  can  get  it,  and  that  any  in- 
terference wnth  the  prevailing  regime  will 
be  sure  to  bring  on  a  panic,  which  will 
only  make  matters  worse.  Hearing  this, 
the  multitude  will  hesitatingly  acquiesce 
and  thereupon  subside ;  and  tho  occasion- 
ally a  radical  journal  or  a  radical  agitator 
will  counsel  revolt,  the  mass  will  remain 
quiescent.  Gradually,  too,  by  one  method 
or  another,  sometimes  by  the  direct  action 
of  the  nobility,  the  greater  part  of  the  dis- 
placed workers  w411  find  some  means  of 
getting  bread,  while  those  who  cannot 
will  be  eliminated  from  the  struggle  and 
cease  to  be  a  potential  factor  for  trouble. 

In  its  general  aspects  shop  industry 
will  be  carried  on  much  as  now.  Only  the 
shops  will  be  very  much  larger,  the  indi- 
vidual and  total  output  will  be  greater, 
the  unit  cost  of  production  will  be  less- 
ened. Wages  and  hours  will  for  a  time 
continue  on  something  like  the  present 
level;  but,  despite  the  persistence  of  the 
unions,  no  considerable  gains  in  behalf  of 
labor  are  to  be  expected.  The  owners  of 
all  industry  worth  owning,  the  barons 
will  laugh  at  threats  of  striking  and  boy- 
cotting. No  competitor  can  possibly  make 
capital  out  of  the  labor  disputes  of  an- 
other, for  there  will  be  no  competitors, 
actual  or  potential.  What  the  barons  will 


23 


most  dread  will  be  the  collective  assertion 
of  the  villeins  at  the  polls ;  but  this,  from 
experience,  they  will  know  to  be  a  thing 
of  no  immediate  danger.  By  the  putting 
forward  of  a  hundred  irrelevant  issues 
they  can  hopelessly  divide  the  voters  at 
each  election ;  or,  that  failing,  there  is  al- 
ways to  be  trusted  as  a  last  resort  the  cry 
of  impending  panic. 

Practically  all  industry  will  be  regu- 
lated in  terms  of  wages,  and  the  entre- 
preneurs, who  will  then  have  become  the 
chief  salaried  officers  of  the  nobles,  will 
calculate  to  a  hair  the  needful  production 
for  each  year.  Waste  and  other  losses 
will  thus  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  A 
vast  scheme  of  exact  systematization  will 
have  taken  the  place  of  the  old  free  com- 
petition, and  industry  will  be  carried  on 
as  by  clockwork. 

Gradually  a  change  will  take  place  in 
the  aspirations  and  conduct  of  the  young- 
er generations.  Heretofore  there  has  been 
at  least  some  degree  of  freedom  of  choice 
in  determining  one's  occupation,  however 
much  that  freedom  has  been  curtailed  by 
actual  economic  conditions.  But  with  the 
settling  of  industrial  processes  comes 
more  and  more  constraint.  The  dream 
of  the  children  of  the  farms  to  escape 
from  their  drudgery  by  migrating  to  the 
city,  and  from  the  stepping  stone  of  a 
clerkly  place  at  $3  a  week  to  rise  to  af- 


24 


fluence,  will  be  given  over,  and  they  will 
follow  the  footsteps  of  their  fathers.  A 
like  fixity  of  condition  will  be  observed 
in  the  cities,  and  the  sons  of  clerks  and  of 
mechanics  and  of  day  laborers  will  tend 
to  accept  their  environment  of  birth  and 
training  and  abide  by  it.  It  is  a  phenom- 
enon observable  in  all  countries  where 
the  economic  pressure  is  severe,  and  it  is 
certain  to  obtain  in  feudal  America. 

The  sub-tenants  and  the  small-unit  pro- 
ducers and  distributers  will  be  confined 
within  smaller  and  smaller  limits,  while 
the  foremen,  the  superintendents  and  the 
entrepreneurs  of  the  workshops  will  at- 
tain to  greater  power  and  recompense. 
But  the  chief  glory  of  the  new  regime, 
next  to  that  of  the  nobles,  will  be  that  of 
the  class  of  courtiers  and  court-agents. 
Theirs,  in  a  sense,  will  be  the  most  im- 
portant function  in  the  State—"  to  justify 
the  ways  of  God  [and  the  nobility]  to 
man."  "  Two  divisions  of  the  courtier 
class,  however,  will  find  life  rather  a  bur- 
densome travail.  They  are  the  judges 
and  the  politicians.  Holding  their  places 
at  once  by  popular  election  and  by  the 
grace  of  the  barons,  they  will  be  fated  to 
a  constant  see-saw  of  conflicting  obliga- 
tions. They  must,  in  some  measure,  sat- 
isfy the  demands  of  the  multitude,  and 
yet,  on  the  other  hand,  they  must  obey  the 
commands  from  above. 


25 


The  outlines  of  the  present  State  loom 
but  feebly  through  the  intricate  network 
of  the  new  system.  The  nobles  will  have 
attained  to  complete  power,  and  the  mo- 
tive and  operation  of  Government  will 
have  become  simply  the  registering  and 
administering  of  their  collective  will. 
And  yet  the  State  will  continue  very 
much  as  now,  just  as  the  form  and  name 
of  the  Roman  Republic  continued  under 
Augustus.  The  present  State  machinery 
is  admirably  adapted  for  the  subtle  and 
extra-legal  exertion  of  power  by  an  au- 
tocracy ;  and  while  improvements  to  that 
end  might  unquestionably  be  made,  the 
barons  will  hesitate  to  take  action  which 
will  needlessly  arouse  popular  suspicions. 
From  petty  constable  to  Supreme  Court 
Justice  the  officials  will  understand,  or  be 
made  to  understand,  the  golden  mean  of 
their  duties ;  and  except  for  an  occasional 
rascally  Jacobin,  whom  it  may  for  a  time 
be  difficult  to  suppress,  they  will  be  faith- 
ful and  obey.  . 

The  manorial  courts,  with  powers  exer- 
cised by  the  local  lords,  will  not,  as  a  rule, 
be  restored.  Probably  the  "  court  baron," 
for  determining  tenantry  and  wage  ques- 
tions, will  be  revived.  It  may  even  come 
as  a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  present  con- 
ciliation boards,  with  a  successor  of  the 
Committee  of  Thirty-six  as  a  sort  of  gen- 
eral court  baron  for  the  nation.   But  the 


26 


court  leet,"  the  manorial  institution  for 
punishing  misdemeanors,  wherein  the 
baron  holds  his  powers  by  special  grant 
from  the  central  authority  of  the  State, 
we  shall  never  know  again.  It  is  far  sim- 
pler and  will  be  less  disturbing  to  the  pop- 
ular mind  to  leave  in  existence  the  pres- 
ent courts  so  long  as  the  baron  can  dic- 
tate the  general  policy  of  justice. 

Armed  force  will,  of  course,  be  em- 
ployed to  overawe  the  discontented  and 
to  quiet  unnecessary  turbulence.  Unlike 
the  armed  forces  of  the  old  feudalism,  the 
nominal  control  will  be  that  of  the 
State;  the  soldiery  will  be  regular  and 
not  irregular.  Not  again  will  the 
barons  risk  the  general  indignation 
arising  from  the  employment  of  Pink- 
ertons  and  other  private  armies.  The 
worker  has  unmistakably  shown  his 
preference,  when  he  is  to  be  subdued,  for 
the  militia  and  the  Federal  army.  Broad- 
ly speaking,  it  is  not  an  unreasonable  at- 
titude ;  and  it  goes  without  saying  that  it 
will  be  respected.  The  militia  of  our  Be- 
nevolent Feudalism  will  be  recruited,  as 
now,  mostly  from  the  clerkly  class;  and 
it  will  be  officered  largely  by  the  sons  and 
nephews  of  the  barons.  But  its  actions 
will  be  tempered  by  a  saner  policy.  Gov- 
erned by  those  who  have  most  to  fear 
from  popular  exasperation,  it  will  show 
a  finer  restraint. 


27 


A  general  view  of  the  new  society  will 
present  little  of  startling  novelty.  A  per- 
son leaving  this  planet  to-day  and  revis- 
iting "  the  pale  glimpses  of  the  moon  " 
when  the  new  order  is  in  full  swing  will 
from  superficial  observation  see  but  few 
changes.  Alter  et  idem — another,  yet 
the  same — he  will  say.  Only  by  closer 
view  will  he  mark  the  deepening  and 
widening  of  channels  along  which  the 
powerful  currents  of  present  tendencies 
are  borne ;  only  so  will  he  note  the  effect 
of  the  more  complete  development  of  the 
mighty  forces  now  at  work. 

So  comprehensive  and  so  exact  will  be 
the  social  and  political  control  that  it  will 
be  exercised  in  a  constantly  widening 
scope  and  over  a  growing  multiplicity  of 
details.  The  distribution  of  wages  and 
dividends  will  be  nicely  balanced  with  a 
watchful  regard  for  possible  dissatisfac- 
tion. Old-age  pensions  to  the  more  faith- 
ful employees,  such  as  those  granted  by 
the  Illinois  Central,  the  Pennsylvania, 
the  Colorado  Fuel  &  Iron  Company,  the 
Metropolitan  Traction  Company,  or  the 
Lackawanna,  will  be  generally  distrib- 
uted, for  the  hard  work  will  be  done  only 
by  the  most  vigorous,  and  a  large  class  of 
destitute  unemployed  will  be  a  needless 
menace  to  the  regime.  Peace  will  be  the 
main  desideratum,  and  its  cultivation 
will  be  the  most  honored  science  of  the 


28 


age.  A  happy  blending  of  generosity 
and  firmness  will  characterize  all  dealings 
with  open  discontent;  but  the  prevention 
of  discontent  will  be  the  prior  study,  to 
which  the  intellect  and  the  energies  of  the 
nobles  and  their  legates  will  be  ever  bent. 
To  that  end  the  teachings  of  the  schools 
and  colleges,  the  sermons,  the  editorials, 
the  stump  orations,  and  even  the  plays  at 
the  theaters  will  be  skilfully  and  per- 
suasively molded;  and  the  questioning 
heart  of  the  poor,  which  perpetually  seeks 
some  answer  to  the  painful  riddle  of  the 
earth,  will  meet  with  a  multitude  of  mol- 
lifying responses.  These  will  be:  From 
the  churches,  that  discontent  is  the  fruit 
of  atheism,  and  that  religion  alone  is  a 
solace  for  earthly  wo;  from  the  colleg'es, 
that  discontent  is  ignorant  and  irrational, 
since  conditions  have  certainly  bettered 
in  the  last  one  hundred  years ;  from  the 
newspapers,  that  discontent  is  anarchy; 
and  from  the  stump  orators  that  it  is  unpa- 
triotic, since  this  nation  is  the  greatest 
and  most  glorious  that  ever  the  sun  shone 
upon.  As  of  old,  these  reasons  will  for 
the  time  suffice ;  and  against  the  possibil- 
ity of  recurrent  questionings  new  apolo- 
getics will  be  skilfully  formulated,  to  be 
put  forth  as  occasion  requires.  On  all 
sides  will  be  observed  a  greater  respect 
for  power;  and  the  former  tendency  to- 
ward rash  and  bitter  criticism  of  the  up- 
per classes  will  decline. 


29 


The  arts,  too,  will  be  modified.  Litera- 
ture will  take  on  the  hues  and  tones  of 
the  good-natured  days  of  Charles  11.  In- 
stead of  poetry,  however,  the  innocuous 
novel  will  flourish  best;  every  flowery 
courtier  will  write  romance,  and  the  lit- 
erary darling  of  the  renascence  will  be  an 
Edmund  Waller  of  fiction.  A  lineal  de- 
scendant of  the  famous  Lely,  who 

"...    on  animated  canvas  stole 
The  sleepy  eye  that  spoke  the  melting  soul," 

will  be  the  laureled  chief  of  our  painters ; 
and  sculpture,  architecture  and  the  lesser 
arts,  under  the  spell  of  changed  influ- 
ences, will  undergo  a  like  transformation. 

This,  then,  in  the  rough,  is  our  Benevo- 
lent Feudalism  to-be.  It  is  not  precisely 
a  Utopia,  not  an  island  valley  of  Avil- 
ion and  yet  it  has  its  commendable,  even 
its  fascinating  features.  "  The  empire  is 
peace,"  shouted  the  partisans  of  Louis 
Napoleon ;  and  a  like  cry,  with  an  equal 
ardency  of  enthusiasm,  will  be  uttered  by 
the  supporters  of  the  new  regime.  Peace 
and  stability  will  be  its  defensive 
arguments,  and  peace  and  stability- 
it  will  probably  bring.  But  tranquil 
or  unquiet,  whatever  it  may  be,  its 
triumph  is  assured;  and  existent  forces 
are  carrying  us  toward  it  with  an 
•  ever  accelerating  speed.  One  power 
alone  might  prevent  it — the  collective 
popular  will  that  it  shall  not  be.   But  of 


3^  l?<^^!^r^:^3»? 


this  there  is  no  fear  on  the  part  of  the 
barons,  and  but  little  expectation  on  the 
part  of  the  underlings.* 

New  York  City. 


*  Since  the  publication  of  this  article  my  atten- 
tion has  been  called  to  an  address,  entitled  "  The 
New  Feudalism,"  delivered  by  Mr.  Benjamin  A. 
Richmond,  of  Cumberland,  Md.,  before  the  Mary- 
land Bar  Association  in  July,,  1898.  I  had  never 
seen  or  heard  of  this  address,  or  of  any  other 
treatment  of  the  subject ;  nor  had  any  of  the 
friends  and  acquaintances  to  whom  I  mentioned 
the  matter.  In  the  last  few  months  casual 
and  scattered  references  to  *'  feudal  times  "  have 
been  met  with  occasionally ;  but  previous  to  fif- 
teen months  ago,  when  I  first  outlined  my  article. 
I  had  seen  nothing,  so  far  as  I  can  now  recall,  in 
the  slightest  manner  alluding  to  such  a  concept. 

Mr.  Richmond's  address  is  an  interesting  and 
able  presentation  of  the  subject.  It  is  written 
from  a  legal  viewpoint,  and  the  treatment  is  there- 
fore widely  different  from  that  of  mine ;  neverthe- 
less, in  two  instances  he  and  I  have  managed  to 
hit  upon  very  similar  phrases.  Mr.  Richmond  is 
unquestionably  entitled  to  the  credit  of  priority  in 
the  general  concept,  and  I  am  glad  to  acknowledge 
his  claim.-— W.  J.  G. 


31 


ADDENDUM. 

BY  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  ECONOMIC  STUDY. 

Mr.  Ghent  has  supplied,  in  one  of  his 
closing  sentences,  an  important  qualifica- 
tion to  his  prophecy :  "  One  power ^  alone 
might  prevent  it  [the  consummation  of 
a  new  feudal  system]— ^/^^  collective 
popular  will  that  it  shall  not  heJ'  How 
correctly,  or  incorrectly,  on  the  whole,  he 
has  seized  upon  current  phenomena,  and 
how  justly  or  unjustly  he  has  interpreted 
current  tendencies  we  may  well  leave  to 
the  individual  judgnient  of  the  reader. 
But  at  least  his  basic  contention — ^that 
whether  or  not  there  is  now  a  greater  or 
less  number  of  individual  industries  than 
before,  social,  industrial  and^  political 
power  is  rapidly  centralizing  in  a  few 
hands — is  hardly  to  be  disputed.  Man- 
hood suffrage  has  so  far  proved  but  an 
ineffective  obstacle  to  this  concentration. 

Since  concentration  is  everywhere  ap- 
parent, and  since  every  indication  points 
to  its  continuance,  there  remains  to  the 
citizenship  the  choice  only  of  how  and 
for  what  purpose  that  concentration  shall 
be  perfected.  It  is  idle  to  talk  of  a  re- 
turn to  the  clumsy  and  chaotic  methods 
of  free  competition.    The  public  must 


32 


decide  whether  unified  industry  is  to  be 
carried  on  for  the  benefit  of  the  many 
or  the  benefit  of  the  few. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Ghent  is 
entirely  wrong  in  his  assumption  of  the 
continued  quiescence  of  the  masses.  His- 
toric parallels  can  be  quoted,  it  is  true, 
for  such  a  view :  the  England  of  Richard 
II  and  again  of  Charles  II  furnish  pitiful 
instances  of  popular  submission  follow- 
ing upon  periods  of  strenuous  freedom 
of  action.  But  the  England  of  1382  and 
of  1661  has  small  counterpart  in  the 
United  States  of  1902.  The  people  who 
sacrificed  so  much  of  their  blood  and 
treasure,  first,  to  win  their  independence ; 
second,  to  maintain  it,  and  third,  to  pre- 
serve their  national  integrity,  have  sure- 
ly within  themselves  the  potency  "  to 
shape  the  future  hour,"  to  checkmate  the 
ill,  and  to  foster  the  beneficent  tendencies 
of  the  time,  and  to  erect  upon  the  ruins 
of  a  baffled  oligarchy  the  solid  structure 
of  a  co-operative  commonwealth. 


33 


EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    CONSTITUTION  OP 
THE  COLLECTIVIST  SOCIETY. 

e.r.^I^J^!}^^7^J^^^  principle  of  production 

and  distribution  is  expressed  in  the  dictum: 
Urorn  each  according  to  his  ability;  to  each  ac- 
cording to  his  needs."  This  princiole  reouireq 
that  all  should  have  the  opportin'ty  of  useful 
work,  and  that  all  should  engage  in  useful  work 
?hn,T^*^^  penalty  of  public'' disgrace  f  tLt  all 
who^^l-if"^^?^  comfortable  incomes  exiept  those 
who  will  not  work,  and  that  none  should  receive 
excessively  high  incomes,  as  the  latter  are  moJaiTy 
mnnHv"^  ^i^^  }?'  i^ecipient  and  to  the  com- 
munity. The  ultimate  operation  of  this  princiole 
comesf  ''^'^^      practical  equality  of  in- 

******** 
.i^y^  believe  that  the  establishment  of  this  nrin- 
ciple  will  require  the  transfer  of  the  means  of  nrS 
duction  and  distribution  into  the  Ss  of  ttie 
community  ;  and  that  every  transfer  of  ^his  naturl 
must^  be  accompanied  by  just  compensation. 

pro'^lseti rlX'tef  ^^^"^  ^^^-^ 

*^  secure  work  to  the  unemcJovprl  • 
for'^lif  i"V  "'^^i"'"'"  day  and  a  mtataum^lge 
aged  """^       P™^'*^^  pensions  fo7?f I 

f.nrt''?hi".f*'S"  of  franchises  at  their  full  value 
co"^es*'l'na^5^S^rtanc^f  ^"'"^  .and-valuel'^'?n^: 
The  assumption  by  city  and  State  2-overnmPTif« 

moyemeute^fo^%n±f  S^stwa  and  the  various 
without  prejudice  betterment  earnestly  and 

mo?^^e^Zr''S!.*iofeveL%nt^°^*''- 


34 

cause  of  social  betterment,  whether  within  or 
;i  hou°  thrpolitical  S?««»f„,^^°tr"^^"'- 

|?^E'%\nATS'o&  'AOUIC  STUDY. 

™     p  O  Box  16C3,  New  York  City. 


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